Garcia-Taylor wins in Virginia despite broken diffuser

The VIRginia International Raceway is only reserved for GTLM and GTD vehicles of theIMSA. But this summer meeting is never without suspense. The 2020 meeting was further proof of this with a victory for a heavily damaged car!

“It took me a little while to figure it out, but the whole car was shaking. At 200 km/h, everything was vibrating, it was coming from the rear, explained Antonio Garcia, one of the winners alongside Jordan Taylor in the No. 8 Corvette C3.R.

In fact, the diffuser was simply broken! A damage which was not easy to manage, especially since Bruno Spengler's BMW M8 was honking behind.

“I thought I wouldn't see the finish, the vibrations were so pronounced, continues the Spaniard. But once I got used to it and knew it didn't detract from performance, I knew I could get by with it.

It was scary because I didn't know if the diffuser was going to come off completely, but the Corvette held on! » The American brand thus signs its fourth consecutive victory in GTLM, the third for Garcia-Taylor.

Antonio Garcia unexpectedly took control of the event when leader Nick Tandy (Porsche) was forced to pit for a puncture 17 minutes from time. The Briton was doubly restrained because a few laps earlier, his partner Frédéric Makowiecki suffered a first puncture.

In the championship, Garcia-Taylor are 19 points ahead of Bamber-Vanthoor (Porsche), only fifth in Virginia. The prototypes will join the GTs for the 6 Hours of Road Atlanta on the weekend of September 4-6.

Find the analysis of IMSA in Virginia in issue 2275 of AUTOhebdo, available Monday evening digitally and Wednesday on newsstands.

IMSA Virginia ranking 2020: